Networked devices have proliferated in businesses and residences over the past few decades. In a previous era, about the only device in a residence requiring a low-voltage communication line was an analog telephone. The needs of businesses were not much greater.
In contrast, a present-day factory, office building, hospital or educational institution will have hundreds of electronic devices of various kinds, most of which will be connected via one or more communication lines to other such devices or to central hubs or controllers. Telephones have been joined by fax machines. Computers are typically set up in a client/server architecture on a network such as Ethernet, with each personal computer, printer, scanner or other device having its own network address; the network is extended by repeaters and often includes wireless transmitters and receivers. Communications cabling is also typically supplied for HVAC, access control, audio and video feeds, remote control and other uses.
Given this large number of devices which must be connected together in a typical modern building, the specification, arrangement, addressing and identification of the electrical cables connecting them (typically, but not entirely, of low-voltage varieties) has become nontrivial. Competent installations must be done in a methodical and well-documented way; the purpose and routing of the installed cabling must be readily discernable by the installers as well as persons working with the system long after the installers have departed.
The assignee of the present invention has developed a line of low-voltage insulated cables under the mark SMARTWIRE that helps meet these requirements. Two examples of these cables are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. These cables are labeled along their lengths with various preprinted indicia which vary by cable type. FIG. 1 shows an example of a Cat. 5E cable 100 suitable for use in Ethernet networks. At 102 the insulation jacket is printed an ascending/descending sequential foot marker which tells the installer how much cable is left on the box or reel. A data/phone designation is provided at 104, a distributed audio/video designation at 106, and an intelligent controller designation at 108. The user can mark through one of the DATA, PHONE, AUDIO, VIDEO and I-CNTRL indicia to identify the application for which this cable is being provided. In the illustrated example, DATA has been marked by marking a line through it. At 110 a device designation or address has been printed; this device designation can be used to identify the device to which the cable is to be connected. Using a “ladder” marking system, up to 999 different devices can be identified. In this illustrated example, Device No. 391 has been indicated. Similar designations identifying the location (here, a room) and the address (here, a jack) are printed at 112 and 114, respectively. The cable 100 will also be provided in a specific jacket color and color of stripe 116 to further aid users in isolating the cable from others in the job.
FIG. 2 depicts a somewhat similarly preprinted RG6 quad shield broadband cable 200. Many of the preprinted designations are the same as those used for cable 100, but some are not. The user will mark through a selected one of the SAT and CBL legends at 202 to identify use as a satellite or cable television application. Provision is made to identify the location (room) and address (jack) to which the cable is being routed, at 204 and 206, respectively, and an ascending/descending sequential foot marker is provided at 208. The illustrated cable types are representative only; other kinds of cable include echelon compliant cable, two conductor home theater cable, multiroom four-conductor audio and audio-cat cable, 2×2 structured wiring cable, temperature control cable in regular and low capacitance varieties, fire cable and security cables. Each of these cable types has a print legend which may be different from the others.